#Diluvion pc review how to#

It also turns out, just because humanity has figured out how to magically survive for hundreds of years underwater, they haven’t figured out how to breathe it yet. Your crew needs to eat (although I don’t think they can starve to death), and food – which is expensive – depletes very quickly as you gain crew.

Other ships will not be shy about pinging you as well, and while it might just be trader making sure you aren’t out to get them, a sonar ping could also be the precursor to a torpedo launch.Į xploration isn’t just about sailing around and stealing loot from ruins, or completing fetch quests to finish the main plot (there’s a fair number of them). It also marks vessels, salvage, and places of interest briefly on your HUD, making it absolutely indispensable to doing just about anything in the game. Sonar acts as a wave, briefly illuminating the landscape within a certain range. This can be awe-inspiring as a new discovery makes itself slowly visible, but it it can also be menacing, as you look up and find the shadow of a capital ship menacing above.Īt lower depths, or where particulate is heavy, visibility is basically nonexistent y our only method of s ight is sonar. While some areas areas are well-illuminated by glacial ice or bio-luminescent plants, you generally aren’t seeing too far, with only the largest objects appearing as shadows in the distance. W hen I said that it’s amazing how bright the ocean can be while still being so damn dark, I mean it.

Despite the asset repetition, it’s these backdrops that flesh out the slightly-dilapidated, Vernian (that’s a word now) style the game tries to create. You’ll quickly learn the one lootable barrel, the big golden chest that holds a ship’s loot, and so on. There’s a lot of asset reuse here, with only a handful of props and character models. The majority of gameplay takes place in the 3D realm, but as you check your vessel, or dock with something else, it cuts the side away to reveal a 2D view. The theme does break a bit as the ships get bigger and more heavily armed, taking on a more directly-steampunk aesthetic. Vessels have a Jules Verne-inspired, pseudo-organic style, taking after various fish. The physics of the engine may not be good enough to make them sway in the current, but even the largest of structures are tenuous things, often covered in a patchwork of materials. Rusting hulks litter the ocean floor, from the size of your tiny starting vessel to massive tankers cities and dwellings are literally bolted with massive cables to rocks and ice. Humanity ha s been trapped underground a long time, and it shows. By the end, rest assured, you’ll have your questions answered.Īt its core, Diluvion is a game of exploration, and it continually nails the sense of wonder, trepidation, and dread that follows in the wake of that. The story is vague at first, only picking up once you hit the game’s second map, and serves as a not-so-subtle guide to your explorations, the game’s main focus. Naturally, as a race, we’ve gone and mucked it all up, and it falls to you, -PLAYER-, to gather your ragtag crew (Tired Veteran, Explosion-Obsessed Girl, and more!), and reach the end of the apparently not-so-Endless-Corridor, hopefully saving the squabbling humanity in the process. Legend has it that this was done by the gods themselves for Man’s hubris, but the god Sul, in its mercy, placed an item at the bottom of the Endless Corridor… and that item would be the salvation of humanity. Thrust from their land of plenty, humanity has been trapped deep underground – and underwater – for what appears to be hundreds of years. Newcomer Arachnid Games tries takes a stab at it with Diluvion.

Given our fascination with exploration and alien landscapes, it always baffles me why so few games take place under the sea. Publisher: Gambitious Digitial Entertainment The damn crab lied, it wasn’t better under the sea at all. I slam “ascend” and hope I make it back to base. My ship shakes as cannon fire upon it, my HUD flaring the angry red of an imminent torpedo barreling down on me. My sonar pings off of an even bigger wreck, a tiny glow on its deck. My searchlights barely cut through the murk, and the shadows of ancient hulks say I have no place down here. It’s amazing how bright the ocean can be, and yet still be so accursedly dark.

Diluvion pc review